Past no barrier for Dogs: Cross

Geelong coach Mark Thompson is trying to play mind games with rival AFL teams and it will not work, Western Bulldogs midfielder Daniel Cross says.

Thompson's Cats face minor premiers Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night before the Bulldogs tackle St Kilda in the other preliminary final at the same ground the following evening.

The Cats, as premiers in 2007 and 2009, are in a position of strength compared to the Bulldogs, whose last premiership was in 1954, the Magpies (1990) and the Saints (1966).

"Of all the teams in the finals, I think we're in probably the best spot," Thompson said.

"We'd won a first premiership, we'd won a second so the pressure was off there as far as winning.

"The other teams that are left in it, none of them have won a premiership for a long, long time.

"And that is pressure."

But Cross hit back, saying the Bulldogs' lack of recent success was no barrier.

"When people say we haven't won a flag for 56 years, I wasn't even born then, even Johnno (34-year-old captain Brad Johnson) wasn't born then," Cross told Foxtel's On The Couch program on Monday night.

"It's got nothing to do with the playing group at the moment.

"It doesn't add any extra pressure to our playing group, what happened in the past."

The Bulldogs have participated in 15 finals series since 1954, including preliminary final losses to Geelong in 2008 and St Kilda last year.

"Coaches will always do that (mind games)," Cross said.

"You've got to be mentally strong enough to block that sort of stuff out."

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